Discussion

50th and Lex./Selling NYC to Wife

I'll be taking my wife on a business trip to NYC the end of this week and we will be staying near Lex and 50th. We are just graduating from grad school and so are on a budget, but if I can show her some good food maybe she will agree to let us move to NYC. Are there any really good (any type) reasonably priced restraunts in this very commercial section of Manhattan? If you were trying to convince someone that NYC was wonderful where would you take them?

Seriously, though, New York City is one of the great cities of our time and probably of any time. From all the ethnic neighborhoods around the boroughs to all the great restaurants, from the cultural institutions (museums, art galleries, music halls, etc.) to the diverse architecture, from the amenities like Central Park, Prospect Park, the libraries to the bustling streets, New York City can't possibly be sampled in one visit.

My suggestion is to walk, walk, walk. Take the subway to Montague Street in Brooklyn, walk over to the Promenade, check the breathtaking view of lower Manhattan. Then walk back into Manhattan across the Brooklyn Bridge, find your way to Chinatown, walk up the Bowery until it turns into Third Avenue and continue walking until you get tired. That'll take the better part of a day and won't cost you anything more than the subway rides and what you choose to eat and drink along the way.

For reasonably priced eats, try Chinatown (and see the Manhattan Board for LOTS of opinions on C-Town restaurants), have a burger and a beer in an Irish pub, try some Indian in the East Village, have one pastrami sandwich at the 2nd Ave Deli in the East Village and ask for two extra slices of bread - you'll have enough pastrami for two good-sized sandwiches. Try some pizza.

For finer dining, I would suggest La Mangeoire on 2nd Avenue near 53rd. Very nice ambience, good food, reasonable prices (by NYC standards). Another place we like is Chianti, on 2nd Avenue and 55th. You can hold the prices down in both these places by skipping the wine, or limiting your wine consumption to a glass of the house wine.

Hi George, your suggestions are nice and it's great to know of others who enjoy New York. Just wanted to point out that two weeks ago I wanted to show the Promenade to a visiting European and found it was all boarded up. A big official New York City sign at one of the main entrances stated it was being renovated until, I think, the Spring. Let's hope it reopens on schedule.

I couldn't see if the entire promenade was closed off but it looked like that from my bird's eye view. Just the teeny end part where I stood was open and that's not worth making a special trek there now--though Brooklyn Heights is beautiful anyway.

Walk down Lex to 27th St. and take her to Kalustyans. Walk around, inhale deeply and admire the wonderful mix of merchandise. Then advance to the deli counter and order a mujadarah in a pita, or felafel with baba ganoush, either of which constitutes one of the truly great yet cheap lunches in New York.

Go to the TKTS booth at 47 St. and 7th Ave. and get half price theater tickets. Eat dinner at Topaz Thai at 127 West 56 Street between 6th and 7th Ave. During the day visit the Cloisters which is the medieval branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.The Cloisters is beautiful and serene,it gives you the feeling of being at another place and time.For inexpensive good food go to Chinatown.A bistro that I like in the West Village,Chez Michallet has a early dinner Prix Fixe,for about $28.